Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos
‘Oh, theeeeem. Yeah, they’re totes the cool guys now. That is to say, they’re all fine. Oh, and there’s a new person people too. Do you know of a… pretty lady?’
…he’s not going to get that, is he.
‘Wait, uh… Ayyy-minnn-taaah. And her friend, Desmond.’

I briefly consider trying to fix this creature’s mind, but decide against it. Driving him further into insanity will only be a waste of time. With a groan I force myself to stand up despite the exhaustion. “Take me to them.”

Saris Kataras
That voice… that voice was heavenly. Very fitting for the form she took. And what a form. I… I just…
‘Let me be frank: I think I fell in love with you for a short while there.’
…hang on a moment…
‘On the other hand, I just realised how you managed to do all that stuff earlier and just no-’
‘Illusions…’
‘Awwwwwwww, you spoilsport. I wanted to say it.’
‘I had it figured out a while ago… trust me, I could have revealed it long before you caught up…’
‘Pshaw. Well. I thought the whole display was absolutely wonderful, especially the singing.’
General calls of “agreed” spring up throughout the crowd, as well as a nod from Jezz.
‘Yeah, I liked it.’ Jaxxy calls out. ‘But, uh, I hope she isn’t going to steal my place in the band.’
‘Jaxx, I could add her as the third vocalist in the band, but I’m sure you know you’re irreplacable, right? Oh, that’s a good song name, I’d better write that one down…’
A pause.
‘…I suggest we all head back to the Party Van. Wanna come with, Daryl?’

“Yaaaaaaaay!” Daryl chirps, puffs of rainbow sparkles going off all around her. “Doumo arigatou gozai mashi ta~!” She begins to follow Saris and his groupies, happily half-floating and half skipping along.
[She just said “thank you very much” in Japanese.]

Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos
‘You didn’t answer the question. Please do this, and I will take yo to the other place whilst you talk about the thing I said you should people yes.’
I begin backwards-walking off in the appropriate direction, staring intently at the wanna be the guy whilst doing so.

I say nothing to answer the creature’s inane questions as I follow him. That may anger him, but I cannot care less. I don’t need his help to locate Rosalyn and her companions. And if he thinks I’m easy prey when exhausted, well… Even in such a state I have methods of dealing with one such as him.

Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos
The wanna be the guy continues to not respond. My voice when I next speak has dropped to the slightly deeper tones that I assume when talking logically.
‘I am beginning to suspect that you are a phallus with regards to personality and/or emotional… something or other. So you know.’
A pause.
‘So hey,’ I continue, my voice returning to its normal level, ‘how powerful is the man?’

Finally, a hint of intelligence and sanity in this creature. “I am not sure,” I say in a tired, but grave, tone. “That was only a robotic puppet of some sort controlled from afar, presumably containing only a fraction of his true power. But I was not at even close to full strength either, so I do not know how we compare.” My lips twist into a mirthless smile. “If you ever feel suicidal, you can always go find out for yourself.”

“That was good,” Desmond says, speaking for the first time in what seemed like ages.
“Hm, I agree.”
We were both laying on the ground, myself using his chest as a makeshift pillow. Half of the bear we had for ourselves was gone, and for good reason. We couldn’t help but consume such a large amount… We were starving, after all.
He begins to caress my face for a few moments, then slowly traces a finger down to my collarbone, sending chills down my spine. He smirks at such reaction, obviously enjoying himself.
“Don’t start what you can’t finish, baby,” I warn.
Desmond chuckles, completely disregarding my advice. In a second’s notice, he sits up while simultaneously helping me into the same position, then he straddles my legs just as quickly, not giving me time to react.
“What are you—”
But I’m not able to finish the sentence. He grabs the back of my neck and pulls me in for a deep kiss, that which lasted a good while before we pulled apart.

Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos
‘Nooooooopah. The man is too STRONG. And also, how do you know who the man is? I didn’t say his name to you. Did you know that it was Justinininininian? Because that guy was probably the only one who you fought recently, because you fought him when helping us escape, so re-’
Actually, I had a thought just now.
‘So wait, are you close to weakened now? Like, would a normal guy be able to fight you without vaporising instantly from sheer angrage away from you?’

Saris Kataras
So some time passes, and we return to the Party Van with Daryl in tow. I get the impression, from Jezz constantly staring at Daryl with a grin on her face and whispering in Dex’s ear, that she thinks the little vampire girl is the cutest thing in the world. I mean, she totally sort of is, but… y’know, she’s probably doing that with her illusions or something. Come on. But in any case, I’m gonna talk with her for a bit whilst everyone else is milling around and doing very little at the moment. I have a few more questions.
‘Sooo, Daryl. You seem to be a singer, then, granted that the illusions would have accounted for everything else you did earlier. I was just wondering, are there any other parts you can play, say, the guitar? Also, how are you standing out in the sunlight without frying to a crisp?’

“Because vampires sparkle under sunlight, desu!” Daryl stares at Saris with big sparkly eyes and a totally serious face. “And are there any other parts I can play? Hmm…” She seems to think for a minute. “All of them, I guess?”

“…okay. So, first of all, vampires don’t sparkle in sunlight. Not most of them, anyway; they burn to death horribly unless they’re old enough, from what I know. You-”

“You’re in Team Jacob! Obviously you would say that!” Daryll gives Saris an indignant look.

“I don’t know… what you’re talking abo- actually, no, what is ‘Team Jacob’, and what exactly is ‘Team Jacob’ up against?”

“Team Edward!” She looks at Saris as though he’s a small child.

“…yeah, what is ‘Team Edward’ in this day and- you know what? Forget it, I have more important questions than that. When I asked you about music earlier, I meant what parts specifically did you prefer to play, rather than what parts can you play. So… yeah, what parts do you prefer in a band, or what have you?”

“All of them!”

“No, I… which ones are preferable, to you specifically, out of the ones you can play?”

“All of them!” Darryll repeats, now with the look one might give to someone with a slight mental deficiency.

“No, which part- why is-’”

Saris seems to take a moment to compose himself.

“…let me rephrase. You can play all the parts in a band, I get that. Out of those parts, though- alright, let’s say you’re part of a band of several people, not just yourself. Any genre, doesn’t matter. Now, you have to make a choice of one regarding which part of that particular band to play. You aren’t allowed to choose ‘all the parts’ as an answer, since only one can be an absolute favourite part of yours, and the other band members will have chosen the other parts already. So, which part would you choose if placed in that particular band?”

“B-But… I want to play all of the parts! At the same time, desu!” Darryl suddenly looks as though she’s about to cry.

“Uh…”

Saris is thrown off by the suddenly extra-adorable face, and tries to make his voice and face more soothing in response. Somewhere nearby, Jezzika seems to faint due to cuteness overdose, her nose bleeding ever so slightly.

“…no, yeah, I get that you can play all of the parts of a band at the same time, I think. I’m asking, in a hypothetical situation where you were part of a band-”

“You know, Saris, you could be more helpful than just making her choose one part. Suggest things. For instance, are you better at the keyboard than anything else, Daryl?”

Daryl’s face instantly brightens. “I can play the keyboard, desu!”

“See, now we’re getting somewhere. Would you mind giving us a demonstration, Daryl?”

[Aw shit, son of a bitch I’ve been away for too damn long. I hope I got a good idea of who is with who, and where we are]Vinyl
I look at the others, especially the ones that weren’t occupied with anything too important. “So what’s your guys’ stories?” I say with a bit of energy in my voice, “I mean I guess we may be traveling together, so we might as well share a couple things with each other.” I smiled, “I’ll go first.” I grabbed a stick close to me and started writing in the dirt.

I drew a small house and a some very crude people. A dad, a mom, a son, and his four sisters. “We had this nice set up, Dad and I would go hunt or forage every day, Mom would stay home and take care of my sisters, and my sisters were just these small little bundles of joy that I could play tag with when I was bored, if they were tired, I’d go up to the attic and read these books of the old world. We had a happy life.” I drew a rough picture of a monster, I was going for something of a half werewolf, have Orc thing. “Then, when Father was sick and couldn’t hunt with me, I had to get food by myself, then something came and destroyed everything I knew and loved.” I started erasing the picture of the rest of the family and the house. “Been traveling ever since.” I threw the stick a little ways from me, hoping one would pick it up and share their story with the rest of us.

FrostixEarlier
Wandering through the icy plains, tracking a fallen ice golem. I prefer being out here than in the city, it’s less crowded and the temperature is more to my liking. I hear something but it’s too far away for me to know what it is. I look up and see the city falling to the ground, I start to walk to the crash site but I know that it would be all over before I even got there. All I could do would to help whoever was still there when I reached the city

Now
After exiting the ruined city I see a group of people in the distance so I go to my human form in the hope that no-one would find what I am. I near the group and see a man throw a stick away, presumably because he knows that fire just attracts attention. I walk up to the group and say “Hi” in general and sit down hoping that no-one would notice me

“Alright i’ll go next. I was born in a cave. There was a cave-in. I’m pretty sure I was the only survivor. I traveled for a while and ended up in a city ruled by a blue dragon. I started doing odd jobs for the people around the city. Eventually I got enough money to buy myself a place to live and became an official citizen of the city. I went out on another job and was returning to get my pay when I saw the city in the sky crashing to the ground. I decided to make a detour and you know the rest”.

Saris Kataras
…wow, she can play that thing quickly. The first parts of the song aren’t bad – up to about the halfway point, they really showcase the speed she can play that thing, although I guess having loads and loads of what are essentially additional fingers helps with that. It’s certainly got me impressed, regardless…
And then she brings out a goblet of what appears to be blood, which she sips nonchalantly whilst holding the glass in one hand, and she apparently begins playing so quickly that the keyboard can’t keep up, turning the majority of the rest of the song into a discordant mess that’s… probably meant to be a song? But it doesn’t really do the rest of the piece any degree of justice. Seriously, what is she doing to the poor keys (more importantly, though, how is she doing it so quickly)? And, to add to that, at what I think is the second point where the song seems to end, she transfers the goblet to a strand of hair and adds a fairly wonderful slow piece – probably part of the same song, given the tune – played with her hands, as if mocking the abused instrument before leaving it to lick the inevitable wounds it will have suffered. After that, a moment of silence.
‘Tomato juice?’ she asks innocently while offering the goblet to me. Wait, toma- oh, OH, that’s what’s in there! Okay, that’s… it’s different, or… okay, then. Tomato juice. Hmm.
‘I, uh… I’ll pass, thanks. Never really been fond of the stuff.’ Especially considering the fact that I’m probably going to end up associating it with vampires and blood for the rest of my life, although I don’t say this out loud, for obvious reasons.
‘So you know what? You’re actually a really good keyboard player, Daryl. I mean, ignoring the ridiculous-fast laggy bits in the second half.’ Dex notes. But was she really… I mean, she could have been using illusions to fake all of that… the hair, the goblet… the keyboard, maybe?
…why am I even asking myself whether the solo was good, though? Of course it was. Even if it was all illusions, she’d still need ridiculous skill to hit the keys fast enough to break the keyboard rhythm. That being said…
‘I agree with Dex. And you’re more than gregarious enough to keep up with the likes of us… actually, if you could emulate metal synth or something with that keyboard, I’d be more than willing to offer you a place in our band. I… assume you can do that, possibly?’

I rub my eyes. Rose has been crying, and it’s hard to just stop when I take over. Ugh, fuck. I hate it when people see us in a moment of our weakness. Taking a deep breath, my whole body shudders like liquid for a moment, making a series of fine muscle adjustments to stop the uncontrollable sobbing…

…wait. Where the hell did that come from? When did I learn that? Whatever.

Okay, talking. Never been good with that. Always easier to just beat shit up. And I feel way too tired for this. But if that’s what we gotta do to stick together and not fall apart… “Guess I’m next,” I say. “I don’t remember anything about the first eight years of my life. No parents, no relatives, no nothing. Been living in Caelum Fortis for as long as I know. Found me lying unconscious outside their door, the orphanage said. And…” I grimace. “Look. I really don’t wanna talk about this shit, so can we just move on?”

Then suddenly I see this blue-haired dude who just walks up to us, says hi, and sits down. What the fuck?!

My hair turns into a large number of black blades, each coated with crackling dark red energy. “Hey, who the fuck are you?!” I walk up to the guy and demand, all the blades pointed toward him.

“Again, if you ever feel suicidal, you can always go find out for yourself,” I say nonchalantly without looking at the dragon. Mentally I prepare a dose of Kristor’s parasites, ready to inject it into the hybrid the moment he shows any sign of hostility.

Hephirix-Zatherex Ullulos
‘Bawrgh. You could just answer my questions, wanna be the guy, and not be picky and translucent. Wait, translucent? No, yes, that… oh hey, wanna buy a statue or something? Only several hundred money currency for one moderate-quality thing!’

“I have no money,” I say. Then I begin to sneer. “So what do you prefer, creature? Would you rather that I tortured you until you made me a statue free of charge? Or would you prefer that I warped your mind until you voluntarily agree to create a statue for me?”

Vinyl
I laugh a bit before standing up, “Rosalynn, if a person walks up to group haeavily outnumbered and says ‘Hi’, one of two things are fact, one, he isn’t hostile. Or two. We are already dead, and since I don’t have an arrow in my back, I think it’s the former.” I say, kicking the stick to the stranger, “So what’s your story?”

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